The Jays approach 2018 as a bit of a wild card. A wild card that could be a Wild Card, if ye catch me drift. They’re unlikely to take down the AL East with the likes of the Yankees and Red Sox flexing full powerhouse mode, yet their roster is far from a disaster. All they really lost from 2017 was Jose Bautista, and one could consider that addition by subtraction. They brought in Aledmys Diaz, Danny Espinosa, and Yangervis Solarte to bolster their infield depth behind the injury-prone Devon Travis. They didn’t want to have to rely on youngsters Teoscar Hernandez and Anthony Alford in the outfield, so they traded for Randal Gritchuk and signed Curtis Granderson. They even reinforced their pitching staff with cheap options Jaime Garcia and Seung-hwan Oh. It’s been an unheralded offseason for Toronto, but considering what they accomplished without spending a lot of money, it’s been an impressive one. With better seasons from Aaron Sanchez and Marco Estrada, this could be a team that improves quite a bit from their 76 win 2017. I spoke with Tom Dakers from Blue Bird Banter about some of the fantasy situations surrounding the Jays in 2018.

Note: The season has started, but we’ll have a couple more previews to release this weekend for your viewing pleasure!

Welcome to Razzball’s 2018 team previews. As we’ve been doing the last few months, we’ll be previewing all of the teams and talking to writers who represent those teams around the web. We want to provide the best and most in-depth fantasy projections to go along with the asking the most useful questions to those who know their teams best. We want to talk about the players in the first half of your draft and also the deep sleepers that make you log into google and start watching Midwest Single-A ball for hours. Just kidding, don’t do that, hopefully we don’t go that far…

It’s been an interesting offseason for the Orioles, who (at least for the time being) have decided to hold on to superstar Manny Machado rather than dealing him prior to his walk year. They are moving him to shortstop though, perhaps to showcase his talents there and raise his value. In any case, we love the value boost he gets in fantasy. The O’s have brought in the likes of Andrew Cashner and Alex Cobb to “bolster” their rotation, in addition to re-signing Chris Tillman. When those are the highlights of your offseason, you probably shouldn’t get your hopes up too high. That said, Baltimore consistently beats their projected win total, so who knows? Maybe they’ll surprise us. They’ve still got a ton of offense, although Mark Trumbo is slated to begin the year on the disabled list, and Chris Davis has been coming along slowly as well. To make sense of the rest, I got in touch with Christopher Church from Fansided’s The Baltimore Wire.

Welcome to Razzball’s 2018 team previews. As we’ve been doing the last few months, we’ll be previewing all of the teams and talking to writers who represent those teams around the web. We want to provide the best and most in-depth fantasy projections to go along with the asking the most useful questions to those who know their teams best. We want to talk about the players in the first half of your draft and also the deep sleepers that make you log into google and start watching Midwest Single-A ball for hours. Just kidding, don’t do that, hopefully we don’t go that far…

Well, it’s been an offseason, hasn’t it Rays fans? It’s hard enough to compete with the likes of the Yankees and Red Sox in general, but the Rays also have to do it with one of the lowest payrolls in MLB. They have shipped off the likes of Evan Longoria, Jake Odorizzi, and Steven Souza. They even went so far as to DFA Corey Dickerson, who was eventually dealt to Pittsburgh. They lost Lucas Duda and Logan Morrison in free agency, who hit a combined 68 home runs in 2017. They lost Brent Honeywell and Jose De Leon to Tommy John surgery already this spring. Sounds like they should just put the Trop up for sale and pack it in, right? Well, you’d think this season would look like a total dumpster fire, but they did bring in CJ Cron, Carlos Gomez, and (I guess he bears mentioning) Denard Span. In fact, PECOTA actually has the Rays winning 83 games, which would put them in the Wild Card game according to their projections. The Rays will be a very interesting team to watch this year, but for fantasy purposes we turn to Adam Sanford of DRays Bay to illuminate us on some of the most interesting situations in Tampa.

Welcome to Razzball’s 2018 team previews. As we’ve been doing the last few months, we’ll be previewing all of the teams and talking to writers who represent those teams around the web. We want to provide the best and most in-depth fantasy projections to go along with the asking the most useful questions to those who know their teams best. We want to talk about the players in the first half of your draft and also the deep sleepers that make you log into google and start watching Midwest Single-A ball for hours. Just kidding, don’t do that, hopefully we don’t go that far…

It turns out trading for Chris Sale was a good idea. Who knew. The 2017 Red Sox won 93 games and the AL East crown came along with it, although they would be swept by the Astros in the ALDS. This offseason they brought back the likes of Mitch Moreland and Eduardo Nunez to help keep their MLB core strong, but that’s not all they did. They ponied up for the biggest bat on the market, signing JD Martinez to a surprisingly reasonable 5-year, $110 million contract. He’ll provide some much needed thump to a lineup that was lacking power following the retirement of David Ortiz. With a young core of hitters, a good bullpen, and a top-heavy rotation, Boston will look to repeat as champs of the AL East in 2018. I spoke with Sean Penney of Fansided’s BoSox Injection to parse out some of the most relevant fantasy questions surrounding the Red Sox this year…

Welcome to Razzball’s 2018 team previews. As we’ve been doing the last few months, we’ll be previewing all of the teams and talking to writers who represent those teams around the web. We want to provide the best and most in-depth fantasy projections to go along with the asking the most useful questions to those who know their teams best. We want to talk about the players in the first half of your draft and also the deep sleepers that make you log into google and start watching Midwest Single-A ball for hours. Just kidding, don’t do that, hopefully we don’t go that far…

Here we have the Chicago White Sox, yet another rebuilding (read: tanking) AL Central team. Also known as the Pale Hose (not to be confused with a male Irish cabaret), we do have a team with some very intriguing young talent. The rotation is looking shaky at best (my God, look at those Steamer projections), but Yoan Moncada and Tim Anderson are bringing some youth and speed to the top of the lineup with more exciting prospects on the horizon. Keep an eye on the closer situation heading into the season; veteran Joakim Soria is the current favorite, but Juan Minaya lingers, and Nate Jones looks healthy and could be dominant. I asked Collin Whitchurch of BP South Side about some of the more interesting players and playing time situations.

The 2018 Razzball Commenter Leagues are now open! Free to join with prizes! All the exclamation points!

Welcome to Razzball’s 2018 team previews. Over the next couple of months, we’ll be previewing all of the teams and talking to writers who represent those teams around the web. We want to provide the best and most in-depth fantasy projections to go along with the asking the most useful questions to those who know their teams best. We want to talk about the players in the first half of your draft and also the deep sleepers that make you log into google and start watching Midwest Single-A ball for hours. Just kidding, don’t do that, hopefully we don’t go that far…

The Yankees got an early jump on their expected window of contention (if such a thing ever ceases to exist with the Yankees), racking up 91 wins in 2017 and taking a Wild Card berth all the way to an ALCS Game 7. Aaron Judge exploded into a legitimate second coming of the Tall Man superstar, leading the league with 8.2 fWAR. Gary Sanchez confirmed his status as the top fantasy catcher, Luis Severino turned into an ace, and they traded for solidifying pieces Sonny Gray, David Robertson, and Tommy Kahnle. As if that wasn’t enough to make them the favorites to win the AL East, they took advantage of potential Yankees spy Derek Jeter’s Miami fire sale. They landed Giancarlo Stanton (and his $300 million contract) for next to nothing, giving them the most feared tandem in baseball with Judge/Stanton. They also added veteran Neil Walker on a cheap deal and traded for Brandon Drury, giving them easily one of the most complete rosters in baseball. I spoke to Fansided’s Yanks Go Yard editor Mike Calendrillo about the fantasy value of some of these studs…

Welcome to Razzball’s 2018 team previews. Over the next couple of months, we’ll be previewing all of the teams and talking to writers who represent those teams around the web. We want to provide the best and most in-depth fantasy projections to go along with the asking the most useful questions to those who know their teams best. We want to talk about the players in the first half of your draft and also the deep sleepers that make you log into google and start watching Midwest Single-A ball for hours. Just kidding, don’t do that, hopefully we don’t go that far…

The Tigers finally embraced their need to rebuild in 2017, trading off superstar pitcher Justin Verlander for prospects Franklin Perez, Daz Cameron, and Jake Rogers. Miguel Cabrera had the worst year of his career, Victor Martinez is just about over the hill, and there isn’t much else going for the roster either. Kate Upton won’t even be in the bleachers anymore. Times are tough. The projection systems all have the Tigers fighting for the worst record in baseball. However, there is still fantasy gold to be mined on crappy teams, so let’s get to diggin’. I asked Emily Waldon of The Athletic Detroit to help us polish this Tigers coal into diamonds. Wait, crap, I was going with the gold metaphor, not diamonds. Umm…let’s just get Emily’s take and try to milk some fantasy value from the teat of this ugly roster.

Welcome to Razzball’s 2018 team previews. Over the next couple of months, we’ll be previewing all of the teams and talking to writers who represent those teams around the web. We want to provide the best and most in-depth fantasy projections to go along with the asking the most useful questions to those who know their teams best. We want to talk about the players in the first half of your draft and also the deep sleepers that make you log into google and start watching Midwest Single-A ball for hours. Just kidding, don’t do that, hopefully we don’t go that far…

It is truly incredible to look at this roster and remember that the Royals won the World Series in 2015. Just three years later, they will contend for the worst record in baseball. Without any impact prospects knocking on the door, it’s looking like a slow rebuild is in order. They’ll get some compensatory picks for their big free agents who have left the team to sign elsewhere, so that should help. As of this moment Mike Moustakas still remains without a team, but Lorenzo Cain found a home with the upstart Brewers and Eric Hosmer signed a massive 8-year deal with the downstart Padres. There is still some fantasy goodness to be had on this roster though, and I asked Mike Engel of BP Kansas City to help us parse out what’s worth pursuing and what isn’t.

Welcome to Razzball’s 2018 team previews. Over the next couple of months, we’ll be previewing all of the teams and talking to writers who represent those teams around the web. We want to provide the best and most in-depth fantasy projections to go along with the asking the most useful questions to those who know their teams best. We want to talk about the players in the first half of your draft and also the deep sleepers that make you log into google and start watching Midwest Single-A ball for hours. Just kidding, don’t do that, hopefully we don’t go that far…

The Twins shocked everyone in 2017 as they became the first team in the history of baseball to go from losing over 100 games to making the playoffs the following season. The new front office regime headed by Thad Levine and Derek Falvey are yanking the organization into the modern era and expanding their analytics department. I asked Brandon Warne of The Athletic Minnesota about some of the most hotly debated players on this ascending roster. Of course, the Twins continued to make moves late into the offseason, signing Anibal Sanchez and trading for Jake Odorizzi shortly after I spoke to Brandon. Sanchez should serve as a stopgap until Ervin Santana makes his way back from finger surgery, but Odorizzi provides some much needed mid-rotation stability. Let’s get Brandon’s take on some of the other players and situations of interest!